If you walk into the nearest bookstore for a work of fiction, you’ll have to specify to find something that caters to your personal interests. If you’re into genre fiction, you’ll peruse aisles marked with headings that denote the overarching theme of the book; fantasy, sci-fi, romance, mystery, horror, and historical fiction all represent wildly popular and substantial areas of […]
March 2, 2012 by 33 Comments Writing InspirationThe Benefits of Reading Deprivation
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.—Louisa May Alcott First, thanks to K.M. for inviting me to be a guest at Wordplay. Romance University is in such fabulous company among Write to Done’s other Top 10 Blogs! We’re going to talk about something potentially painful today, so square your shoulders, puff […]
February 3, 2012 by 25 Comments Researching Your NovelWhat Non-Fiction Authors Can Teach Novelists
Do you aspire to write a novel as breathtaking as Huckleberry Finn? Mark Twain cheated. He brought to his fiction a skill set he developed under his given name, Samuel Clemens, as a journalist. Twain the novelist knew that a riveting opening, skillful incorporation of dialogue, and compelling details are all tools he could mine […]
January 15, 2012 by 47 Comments Writing LifeHow I Learned to Write–And How You Can Too
You know that moment when, in the middle of a brilliant novel, you drop the book into your lap, stare at the ceiling, and wonder why God chose to gift this novelist with effortless talent, while you’re left slogging in the trenches of writer’s block and clunky sentences? I rather think most of us have […]
January 13, 2012 by 7 Comments Writing LifeThe Pros and Cons of Comparing Yourself to Other Writers
Today, I’m honored to be hosted on Write to Done. Be sure to stop by the blog to read my guest post “The Pros and Cons of Comparing Yourself to Other Writers.” Below is a sneak peek: With the advent of writing communities on such networking sites as Twitter and Facebook and half a thousand […]
December 11, 2011 by 25 Comments Writing Life25 “Under $25” Christmas Gifts for Writers
With Christmas right around the corner, most of us are making our lists and checking them twice. Writers are generally pretty easy folks to buy for. Give us a book by our favorite author or an Amazon gift card and we’re pretty much ready to dub the giver our favorite Christmas elf. But, just in […]
November 20, 2011 by 59 Comments Researching Your Novel4 Reasons to Mimic Other Writers—and 3 Reasons Not to
Successfully mimicking other writers does not mean copying their words, plagiarizing them, or stealing from them. Rather, it boils down to nothing more or less than learning from their techniques. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, since in mimicking the other writers, we’re not only respecting their talent, we’re also gaining untold benefits to […]
October 9, 2011 by 13 Comments Structuring Your NovelReading With Attention
Reading for Plot Structure Whatever book you’re reading right this very minute, take a quick second to look in the back and see how many pages it has. Rounded, I mean. Find a scrap of paper or a used envelope and jot this down at the bottom: total number of pages. Now divide that […]
January 23, 2011 by 65 Comments Researching Your Novel5 Reasons to Read the Same Type of Stories You Write
Aside from writing itself, reading is the single most important element in a healthy writing life. As Natalie Goldberg and Stephen King, respectively, point out: If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you. If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the […]
May 9, 2009 by 58 Comments Writing LifeDo Writers HAVE to Be Readers?
Do writers have to be readers? Reading is fast becoming a lost art. In our digital age of television and Internet, even the leisurely reading of the morning paper is going out of habit with most people. Sometimes, when I happen to be in a particularly cynical frame of mind, I can’t help thinking the […]
